McHenry’s ‘extreme candor’ on Johnson splits GOP

Rep. Patrick McHenry is closing out two decades in Congress by returning to the bomb-throwing days of his youth. His new target is House Speaker Mike Johnson, and it’s starting to rattle fellow conservatives.

McHenry, the bow-tied North Carolina Republican who plans to retire at the end of this session, has been ratcheting up his criticism of Johnson in recent weeks over what he views as a serial mishandling of big issues before the House, including government funding, the border and Ukraine aid.

The underlying tension is that McHenry believes Johnson is holding back activity in the House because of fears that he’ll suffer the same fate as his predecessor, Kevin McCarthy. McHenry told reporters last month that under Johnson’s leadership “we’ve yet to actually fulfill and execute policy.” He went further in a CBS News interview last week, warning of a “50-50” chance of a shutdown and calling it a “preventable disaster.”